Local News

Pot-tax glitch fix gets Senate nod

Bill allows special districts to resume marijuana collection after special session debacle

By Jesse Paul

The Denver Post

Posted:
01/30/2018 09:53:30 PM MST

Legislation that would fix a mistake Colorado lawmakers made last year involving marijuana taxes, costing Denver's Regional Transportation District hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue each month, passed the Republican-controlled state Senate on Tuesday.

The measure — Senate Bill 88 — now heads to the Democratic-controlled House, where its passage appears likely. It would resolve an issue that prompted Gov. John Hickenlooper to call a special legislative session in the fall that quickly fell into disarray.

"Last session we dropped the ball," said Sen. Kevin Priola, R-Henderson, "and we are making up for it."

The legislation made it through the Senate despite the opposition of 10 Republicans — including Majority Leader Chris Holbert, R-Parker — who raised questions about the bill's constitutionality surrounding taxation. (The vote was 24-10.)

"Any tax policy change that would create an increase in revenue for a district must get a vote of the people who live in that district," Holbert told the Senate. "Now, to me, that seems very clear."

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Bob Gardner, a Colorado Springs Republican, is similar to the ones that failed during the October special session. The most notable change is that it hands to special districts the decision about whether to seek voter approval on pot taxes under the state's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, or TABOR.

Advertisement

The glitch stemmed from a bill passed just before the end of the 2017 legislative session, one that cut out a 2.9 percent tax on recreational marijuana for an increase in the special sales tax on pot. In making the change, however, special districts — including RTD, the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District and the Montezuma County Hospital District — suddenly weren't able to collect their share.

Some in the GOP weren't satisfied that the TABOR questions had been resolved with the new fix. "I appreciate the mulligan you're giving the legislature," Sen. Tim Neville, R-Littleton, told Gardner. "And that may be appropriate when we are on the golf course — if you'd like to give a mulligan. However, that's not appropriate when it comes to the Colorado Constitution."

Republicans blocked the legislation during the special session on those constitutional grounds. They also claimed that Hickenlooper hastily made the decision, without proper preparation, to call them back to the Capitol.

But after the new measure had passed the Senate, Hickenlooper quipped that there didn't appear to be many differences between the special session legislation and what the Senate approved.

"If you're asking me what the difference is, I was going to ask you the same thing," the Democrat told reporters. "... It seems pretty similar. Anyway, we are glad that it's done."

He then followed up by saying that if bipartisan legislation and work is going to get done, "we all have to resist those opportunities ... to come back and fight or poke someone over what happened three months ago or six months ago."

But Gardner said there is a "huge difference" with the new bill.

"The prior bill, during the special session, basically said the tax is reinstated and special districts shall collect. Basically it was a directive to them," he said. "Senate Bill 88 is conceptually different, in the sense that all we really do is authorize special districts to collect sales tax on retail marijuana."

Gardner added: "A few words is a huge difference, conceptually and legally."

House Majority Leader KC Becker, a Democrat from Boulder, is leading sponsorship of the bill with Gardner.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.